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| Desperate commuters, it’s time for a rebellion the government can’t ignore Desperate commuters, it’s time for a rebellion the government can’t ignore | |
| (1 day later) | |
| Politicians foolish enough to search for “Britishness”, those ineffable qualities and values that define who we think we are, conjure up strings of imagined characteristics, virtually all of which have turned out to be wrong. | Politicians foolish enough to search for “Britishness”, those ineffable qualities and values that define who we think we are, conjure up strings of imagined characteristics, virtually all of which have turned out to be wrong. |
| No, we are not the tolerant, moderate folk we pretend: the Brexit vote put an end to that notion, as we, the country that has taken a tiny number of refugees, vote to keep out foreigners at any price, however self-harming. As the Germans take a million refugees and the Italians and Greeks absorb thousands a week, imagine the paroxysms of national hysteria if the Isle of Wight suddenly received Lampedusa’s boatloads of migrants every day. | No, we are not the tolerant, moderate folk we pretend: the Brexit vote put an end to that notion, as we, the country that has taken a tiny number of refugees, vote to keep out foreigners at any price, however self-harming. As the Germans take a million refugees and the Italians and Greeks absorb thousands a week, imagine the paroxysms of national hysteria if the Isle of Wight suddenly received Lampedusa’s boatloads of migrants every day. |
| What other qualities do we wrongly boast about? Phlegmatic, stiff upper lip, stoicism. But all too often that’s just apathy, spinelessness and lack of the basic gumption to stand up and refuse to take it any more, the way the French regularly do. We are badly governed because British government relies on supine acquiescence to just about everything. | What other qualities do we wrongly boast about? Phlegmatic, stiff upper lip, stoicism. But all too often that’s just apathy, spinelessness and lack of the basic gumption to stand up and refuse to take it any more, the way the French regularly do. We are badly governed because British government relies on supine acquiescence to just about everything. |
| “Frankly, I didn’t think we’d get away with it,” one less austerian former Tory minister said to me. “But there doesn’t seem to be a limit,” he said, contemplating the essential services stripped away and the billions in benefits ripped from the pockets of very “hardworking” families, disabled people or the elderly left with no care, without riots or rebellions. | “Frankly, I didn’t think we’d get away with it,” one less austerian former Tory minister said to me. “But there doesn’t seem to be a limit,” he said, contemplating the essential services stripped away and the billions in benefits ripped from the pockets of very “hardworking” families, disabled people or the elderly left with no care, without riots or rebellions. |
| It’s easy to see why individual families are in no position to take collective action. Isolated, not members of unions, they have no collective voice. That’s what George Osborne discovered and what Philip Hammond assumes. They can do just about anything to those with least, and they suffer silently, turning shamefacedly to food banks not to food riots. | It’s easy to see why individual families are in no position to take collective action. Isolated, not members of unions, they have no collective voice. That’s what George Osborne discovered and what Philip Hammond assumes. They can do just about anything to those with least, and they suffer silently, turning shamefacedly to food banks not to food riots. |
| Countless studies of what triggers revolutions suggest it’s not those with no bread on the table but the frustrations of an aspiring but disappointed bourgeoisie that cause revolt. Not hamstrung by the struggle to survive, they are the ones with the time and resources to organise. But no, not in phlegmatic Britain. | Countless studies of what triggers revolutions suggest it’s not those with no bread on the table but the frustrations of an aspiring but disappointed bourgeoisie that cause revolt. Not hamstrung by the struggle to survive, they are the ones with the time and resources to organise. But no, not in phlegmatic Britain. |
| That’s a long preamble to point to something a lot more frivolous, but nonetheless puzzling. Today is the third successive day of yet another Southern Rail strike by the RMT union. This interminable dispute has rendered the lives of south-east commuters desperate. Tory MPs along the routes say people are losing their jobs. Nick Herbert, MP for Arundel and South Downs writes in the Telegraph today that employers are rejecting job applications from those relying on Southern to get to work, because often they won’t make it. “Major contracts in the region have been cancelled,” he says. Sir Nicholas Soames (MP for Mid Sussex) talks of “very, very angry” people who have had their “livelihoods buggered up.” People are being “held to ransom by an incompetent company and industrial action based on specious argument,” he says. | That’s a long preamble to point to something a lot more frivolous, but nonetheless puzzling. Today is the third successive day of yet another Southern Rail strike by the RMT union. This interminable dispute has rendered the lives of south-east commuters desperate. Tory MPs along the routes say people are losing their jobs. Nick Herbert, MP for Arundel and South Downs writes in the Telegraph today that employers are rejecting job applications from those relying on Southern to get to work, because often they won’t make it. “Major contracts in the region have been cancelled,” he says. Sir Nicholas Soames (MP for Mid Sussex) talks of “very, very angry” people who have had their “livelihoods buggered up.” People are being “held to ransom by an incompetent company and industrial action based on specious argument,” he says. |
| An appalling rail company famous for dreadful service with crammed carriages and frequent cancellations, is trying to remove guards from its trains by first taking away their job operating the doors. Govia Thameslink Railway, the parent company has even gone to court today to try to prevent the train drivers taking action, rather than settle it. A string of accelerating strikes are planned running up to Christmas and through new year. | An appalling rail company famous for dreadful service with crammed carriages and frequent cancellations, is trying to remove guards from its trains by first taking away their job operating the doors. Govia Thameslink Railway, the parent company has even gone to court today to try to prevent the train drivers taking action, rather than settle it. A string of accelerating strikes are planned running up to Christmas and through new year. |
| Even a cluster of the Sussex bishops of Chichester, Horsham and Lewes are waving their crosiers, calling for “someone to lead the way”, as those responsible have a “moral duty to alleviate the damage.” Soames even claims, “There is a mood of real anarchy.” Well, anarchy among south-east commuters is a very tame affair. | Even a cluster of the Sussex bishops of Chichester, Horsham and Lewes are waving their crosiers, calling for “someone to lead the way”, as those responsible have a “moral duty to alleviate the damage.” Soames even claims, “There is a mood of real anarchy.” Well, anarchy among south-east commuters is a very tame affair. |
| These must be among the most powerful commuters in the land, well-heeled and well-connected, influential enough to frighten government. Their “anarchy” is pathetic: a few loud hailer protests at Victoria station don’t spell rebellion – though the women of St Albans calling themselves The Train Suffererjettes are protesting against Govia Thameslink’s terrible service on 12 December. | These must be among the most powerful commuters in the land, well-heeled and well-connected, influential enough to frighten government. Their “anarchy” is pathetic: a few loud hailer protests at Victoria station don’t spell rebellion – though the women of St Albans calling themselves The Train Suffererjettes are protesting against Govia Thameslink’s terrible service on 12 December. |
| Mostly, the commuters are a pretty spineless crew when they should be chasing after transport secretary Chris Grayling with Sussex pitchforks, he who refuses to hand over the worst London commuter routes to the capable hands of Transport for London for purely political reasons. TfL, after all, is a dangerous example of a brilliantly run nationalised transport system. Grayling is the one setting out to privatise his new Oxford-Cambridge line, out of pure ideology. Bob Neill, Tory MP for Bromley and Chiselhurst, chair of the justice select committee, said on Wednesday that Grayling was “not fit to hold office” and had “compromised his position and should resign” for his political overruling of handing over failing suburban services to TfL. | Mostly, the commuters are a pretty spineless crew when they should be chasing after transport secretary Chris Grayling with Sussex pitchforks, he who refuses to hand over the worst London commuter routes to the capable hands of Transport for London for purely political reasons. TfL, after all, is a dangerous example of a brilliantly run nationalised transport system. Grayling is the one setting out to privatise his new Oxford-Cambridge line, out of pure ideology. Bob Neill, Tory MP for Bromley and Chiselhurst, chair of the justice select committee, said on Wednesday that Grayling was “not fit to hold office” and had “compromised his position and should resign” for his political overruling of handing over failing suburban services to TfL. |
| But what action are these Sussex MPs taking to force their government to stop backing Govia? The commuters by and large back the RMT in opinion polls, rightly wanting to keep the friendly Southern guards on their trains: why would Govia fight so hard on the childish issue of who opens the doors, unless they wanted to be rid of the guards? | But what action are these Sussex MPs taking to force their government to stop backing Govia? The commuters by and large back the RMT in opinion polls, rightly wanting to keep the friendly Southern guards on their trains: why would Govia fight so hard on the childish issue of who opens the doors, unless they wanted to be rid of the guards? |
| But have these commuters no wit or imagination to devise protests that would force the government to take action? The very least direct action might include a bit of polite vandalism, such as glueing all Southern ticket machines on every station to deny them ticket revenue and jamming open all ticket barriers. | But have these commuters no wit or imagination to devise protests that would force the government to take action? The very least direct action might include a bit of polite vandalism, such as glueing all Southern ticket machines on every station to deny them ticket revenue and jamming open all ticket barriers. |
| Meanwhile, a far more serious protest should be made by northern commuters against ever heavier investment in the south, leaving the miserable crammed infrequent squalor of their commuter lines to rot. Travelling yesterday to Huddersfield was a reminder of what “left behind” looks like in transport terms, as their vital renovations and city-to-city connections are cancelled while Southern-based vanity projects such as HS2 and Crossrail 2 power ahead. It’s time for commuter rebellions, north and south. | Meanwhile, a far more serious protest should be made by northern commuters against ever heavier investment in the south, leaving the miserable crammed infrequent squalor of their commuter lines to rot. Travelling yesterday to Huddersfield was a reminder of what “left behind” looks like in transport terms, as their vital renovations and city-to-city connections are cancelled while Southern-based vanity projects such as HS2 and Crossrail 2 power ahead. It’s time for commuter rebellions, north and south. |